skidaddytn

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I'm guessing he meant pumping the liquid "out of the carboy"... its probably too late in the evening to get one, but if you replace the airlock with a rubber bung with a drilled hole... you could then put some plastic tubing in that hole and run it into a bucket of water with a small amount of bleach... then just let it eject whatever blowoff you have... many of us don't even use airlocks... i always opt for blowoff tube, even if theres not going to be a blowoff

nukinfuts29

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DO NOT use bleach in the solution you place the blow off tube into. If you get suck back you will have a bleach solution in your fermenter and that is BAD.

Do not do this.

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The Jack Keller Collection

Schnitzengiggle

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Hmmmmm. . .

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Okham's Razor - simplest explanation is usually the correct one.

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UNDERGROUNDMINER

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I guess a more appropriate term would be "sucking", as they can't pump anything. It's like I am getting vacuum in the carboy. but it seems to have stabilized since last night.

Shooter

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My suggestion:

Quit messing with it and leave it alone! Oh, and get a hydrometer. Psychic brewing is great and all, but hard numbers get rid of MUCH of the guess work. Also, I doubt the cidery quality you can get from too much cane sugar is going to be detrimental to your cider.

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Of all tyrannies, a tyranny sincerely exercised for the good of its victims may be the most oppressive. It would be better to live under robber barons than under omnipotent moral busybodies. The robber baron's cruelty may sometimes sleep, his cupidity may at some point be satiated; but those who torment us for our own good will torment us without end for they do so with the approval of their own conscience. - C. S. Lewis, English essayist & juvenile novelist (1898 - 1963)

BadgerBrigade

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I'm new as well but I had all these exact same questions about three weeks ago... And the same experiences you're having right now! If you're carboy is really really full you will get overflowing, I needed to rig a blow off and didn't so I just let it go and made sure I had vodka in my airlocks in case of suck back... (so as not to contaminate)
Also, everybody told me the same thing that the last guy told you, just leave it alone... Let the yeast do it's thing...
I just got my first hydrometer and have not taken a reading yet but from what I hear it's really a necessary tool... I am doing apples and not pears and they're telling me the optimum temperature is 70 (60 to 80), so, put some vodka in your airlock or starsan I guess... I just don't want weird chemicals in my stuff EVEN if it saids it's ok, but hell, I'm a newbie, get a blow off system for next time, get your hydrometer, and just let it do its thing for a couple weeks & RHAHB. (did I say this right brewers?)

P.S.
Keep in mined ... just trying to help with what I learned so far...

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skidaddytn

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I will have to admit, I've never knowingly had suckback.. if you run a blow off tube down to a water reservoir 1 ft lower than your fermentation liquid surface, i bet it would take a large temperature change to make this happen... if i get bored tomorrow I might try to calculate it :-) normally I have only experienced positive pressure coming out of the fermentation vessel...